Rotary engine.



L. HOLT.

ROTARY ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAYZB, 1912.

1,089,469. Patented Mar. 10, 19M

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

Attorneys.

Inventor,

L. HOLT.

ROTARY ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 28, 1912.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

32 5 LZZ i J izyj Inventor,

Witnesse M 7 I. o

. Attorneys.

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LAFAYETTE HOLT, OF BURLINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA.

ROTARY ENGINE.

noeaaea.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 1.0, 11914.

Application filed. May 28, 1812. Serial No. 700,339.

To aZZ whom it may concern Be it known that I, LAFAYETTE HOLT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Burlington, in the county of Alamance and tltate of North Carolina, have invented a new and useful Rotary Engine, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to improve ments in rotary engines, one object of the invention being the provision of a compound steam engine, the rotor chambers of which are separated by an intervening space or chamber, said chamber constituting the exhaust chamber for one rotor chamber and the supply chamber for the next rotor chamber, said chamber also being in communication with the hollow portion of the rotors so as to properly steam jacket the same both from within and without.

A further object of the present invention is the provision, in addition to the interior j acketing of the rotors, of a jacket surrounding the rotor chamber and in the heads of the engine and arranged to admit the pressure fluid and to conduct the same throughout the length of the engine into the various rotor chambers to be finally brought out through the outer jacketing and discharged from the admission end of the engine.

With the foregoing and other objects in view which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention resides in the combination and arrangement of parts and in the details of construction hereinafter described and claimed, it being understood that changes in the precise embodiment of the invention herein disclosed can be made within the scope of what is claimed without departing from the spirit of the invention.

In the drawings :--Figure 1 is a central longitudinal sectional view through the complete engine, the shaft and fly wheel being in elevation said section being taken on line 1-1 of Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a cross-section taken on line 22 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a central longitudinal view taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 2. Fig. 4c is a cross-section taken on line H of Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawings :-The numeral 1 designates the base, to which is suitably secured the engine housing or casing 2, which may be made in an integral casting or in a series of bolted sections. The ends of the casing are closed by means of the heads 3 and 3, respectively, carrying the journal boxes 1 and 4, respectively, the

flange plates 5 and 5, respectively of which are secured by means of the bolts 6 between the respective heads and the parallel disks 7 and 7, which provide at the respective ends of the engine, an exhaust steam jacketing means for the engine.

Disposed concentrically of the cylinder and journaled anti-frictionally in the two journal. boxes 4 and et, is the shaft 8, having keyed upon one end the power transmitting and balance wheel 9.

Mounted concentrically within the casing are the two rings 10 and 11, which provide the high and low pressure rotor chambers 12 and 13, respectively, which are separated from one another by means of the plates or disks 1d and 15, which provide the receiver 16.

Leading into the head 3, are the two inlet or steam feed pipes 17, which extend through the exhaust chamber 38 formed bV the head 3 and disk 7, into the inlet ducts o r ports 18, which are controlled by a valve 19 somewhat similar in construction and arrangement to the valve set forth in my Patent No. 917,436 dated April 6, 1909, and disposed to be actuated by the rotor 21 whose periphery is in contact or en gagement at all times with the resilient and curved legs 20 of said valves, there being two of these valves to each rotor of the engine. In the stator at the point of mounting of the valve 19 there is provided a peculiar shaped pocket 100 for the reception of the short curved terminal 19 of the valve, there being a block or limiting means 19 carried by both legs of the valve to limit the spaced relation of the short leg and the long leg 20 thereof. A long curved portion 101 is cut in the wall of the stator adjacent the edge of the pocket 100 against which slides the curved end 19 for the reception of the outer face of the curved resilient leg 20 when the same is seated or moved to its on treme outward position by engagement with either one of the abutments or integral pistons of the rotor, carried by the ring 21 of the rotor. The rotor comprises the outer ring 21, keyed upon the collar 22, which is integral with the disk or web 93, perforated as at 23, and integral with the hub 24, which is keyed to the shaft 8. By this means steam is admitted to and acts at diametrically opposite points upon the respective motors, and finally exhausts from the high pressure rotor chamber 12, through the exhaust ports 2% into the receiver 16. At this point the pressure is admitted through the central apertures of the disks let and 15 into the open portions of all rotors, to produce a counter-balancing effect in the motor, and act in opposite directions therein to operate an automatic leakage preventing device 10, hereinafter to be described.

In the partition or disk 15 is provided the two low pressure rotor inlet ports 26, whereby the steam is fed from the receiver 16 into the lower pressure rotor chamber 13, to actuate the lower pressure rotor 27, which is made similar in construction to the high pressure rotor, that is the ring 27, is keyed upon the ring or band 28, carried by the web 29, having the apertures 29, and the hub 30, which is keyed to the shaft 8.

In the disk or plate 7, is provided the exhaustports 31 of the lower pressure chamber 13, which lead into the chamber 32 formed between the head 3 and the plate 7, the ports 33 leading therefrom into the concentrically disposed steam jacketing and exhaust compartments 34:, through the passages 35. The passages are connected to the disks 14 and 15, across the chamber 16, and provide communication between the compartments 34c and similar compartments 36 formed concentrically of the high pressure rotor chamber 12. The steam finally exhausts through the ports 37 into the chamber 38 formed between the head 3 and the plate 7, through the exhaust pipe 39, which by this construction is at the same end of engine as the inlet pipes, thus making a steam jacketed rotary engine, and dispensing with any projections upon the head 3, at the power transmission end of the engine.

From the foregoing description, it is evident that pressure fluid, such as steam, is admitted into the high pressure rotor chamber first, exhausted therefrom into the receiver 16, wherefrom it is conducted as a counterbalancing pressure within the two rotors. Here it automatically acts upon the oppositely disposed and slidable packing rings 10 and 40', disposed upon the outer ends of the respective rotor hubs 24c and 30, so that the flanges ii of these rings will close the interstices between the journal boxes, shaft and rotors, and thus prevent, by the action of the steam within, any leakage of the steam at this vital point of the rotary engine. Formed in the inner face of the journal boxes and to be opposed by the flange 11, is a concentric groove 12, which is in communication with the outside air by means of the vents 43 formed through the body of the journal boxes. Their purpose is to relieve any back pressure or cushioning effect upon the rings &Ol0 at their initial movement to leakage preventing position. By this means the steam held within the hollow portion of the rotors is in a static, or nearly so, state, and thereby retains the rings in leakage preventing position as long as the engine is operating. By this means the efficiency of the engine is increased, and the leaking steam is prevented from having any effect upon the lubrication of the shaft within the journal boxes.

\Vhat is claimed is:

A rotary engine, including a stator having a rotor chamber, the peripheral wall of which is provided with a valve receiving pocket, a rotor having a piston mounted in the rotor chamber, said piston also being a valve actuator, and a swingingly mounted valve disposed in the pocket for admitting pressure fluid, said valve including two legs, one of which is resilient and curved to extend into the rotor chamber to engage the periphery of the rotor and the other of which slides within the pocket of the stator, both of the legs seating in the pocket beyond the periphery of the rotor chamber when the piston of the rotor passes such point.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto aiiixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

LAFAYETTE HOLT.

lVitnesses FRANK B. OCHSENREITER, M. E. Gama.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by

addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G. 

